Background: Tat-interacting protein 30 (TIP30) is a tumor suppressor protein that has been found to be expressed in a wide variety of tumor tissues. TIP30 is involved in the control of cell apoptosis, growth, metastasis, angiogenesis, DNA repair, and tumor cell metabolism. The methylation of the TIP30 promoter is also associated with tumor prognosis. To evaluate this topic further, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis to explore the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of TIP30 for tumor patients.
Methods: We searched PubMed and EMBASE for eligible studies. We manually searched for printed journals and relevant textbooks. Subgroup analyses were performed based on the region, manuscript quality, methods of vasculogenic mimicry identification, pathology, and number of patients.
Results: Fourteen studies with 1705 patients were included in this meta-analysis. A significant association was observed between high expression of TIP30 in patients with cancer with a good overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.53, 95% confidence interval: 0.41-0.69), and good recurrence-free survival or disease free survival (hazard ratio = 0.49, 95% confidence interval: 0.37-0.66). Lack of expression of TIP30 had an association with lymph node metastasis (odds ratio = 3.90, 95% confidence interval: 2.21-6.89) and high tumor node metastasis clinical stage (odds ratio = 2.10, 95% confidence interval: 1.68-2.62). The methylation of the TIP30 promoter did not significantly influence the overall survival (hazard ratio = 0.99, 95% confidence interval: 0.88-1.13) or disease free survival (hazard ratio = 0.62, 95% confidence interval: 0.19-2.02).
Conclusions: TIP30 expression is associated with a good prognosis in patients with tumors. Clinical studies with large samples are needed worldwide and standardized protocols should be adopted in the future to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between tumor prognosis and TIP30.